Windmills that rotate on both horizontal and vertical shafts have long been used to turn electrical generators. Wind farms having dozens of propeller driven generators are a common sight. Less common, but part of the prior windmill art, are vertical shaft electrical generating devices such as the ones disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,938,907, 4,364,709 and 6,962,478, to name only a few. All of these devices require a fixed structural support and depend entirely on the velocity of the wind to create rotation of the windmill.
Going beyond the fixed position windmill, the concept of utilizing the forward motion of a vehicle to produce the air velocity necessary to rotate electrical generating apparatus has also been expressed in the prior art. A sampling of U.S. patents based on the movement of a vehicle to create wind energy includes U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,903,307, 4,019,828, 6,838,782 and 6,882,059. All of the prior art disclosures that mount wind driven electrical generators on vehicles the driving energy developed by the mounted windmill is limited by the vehicle's forward speed added to whatever advantageous wind component that might be available.
It is therefore the principle object of the present invention to provide a wind driven generator that will benefit from increased air velocity through the principal of the venturi effect.
A further object of the invention is to provide a mechanism that will optimize the velocity of air that moves the turbine vanes of a wind driven electrical generator, whether the turbine arrangement is mounted on a fixed structure or mounted on a movable vehicle.
Other and further objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon a reading of the following description of the invention, taken in connection with the accompany drawings.